The awesomeness of our last weekend was capped off by a quick meeting with the person who is behind some major popular culture for the last 50 years. It wasn’t always this way but in the last 15-20 years, comic book characters have joined the mainstream thanks to the hit movies Stan had a hand in.
When I was a little boy, I devoured the Marvel Universe because the cartoons from the late Sixties were in syndication. Stan was a big part of my childhood. I also knew the catchphrases from the school supplies Marvel marketed through Mead in the mid Seventies.
You’ll have to ask Somara about the autograph time. I only spoke to him quickly during the photo op, I said, “Excelsior Mr. Lee!” I’m sure he never gets tired of it since he’s the only person I know who coined it back into the American lexicon. Oh I’ve heard it afterwards, usually as the butt of a joke or as the Enterprise‘s rival in Star Trek III.
Austin was also his last convention before he turns 91 this year. So everybody in the Austin Convention Center sang “Happy Birthday” to him.
You can call me a hypocrite for the photo due to me being a bigger DC fan. However, I’ve often respected his contribution to the medium. Through Stan, Jack “the King” Kirby, Roy Thomas, and numerous other members of the Marvel Bullpen, I think they got DC to finally start bringing its A game to their titles.